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Volume 10 , Issue 52008Weekly eZine: (374 subscribers)Subscribe | Unsubscribe Using Desktop... |
Cherokee Outlet & Cherokee Live Stock Assoc.
As the agitation for the opening of Oklahoma to settlement was continued a popular interest began to increase, the question of the ownership and use of the Cherokee Outlet, or "Strip," as it was commonly called, constantly assumed greater importance in the discussion of the proposed opening.
This was due to the natural antipathy which existed between the "boomers" on the one hand and the Cherokees, who were the owners of the outlet, and the cattlemen, who were leasing and using its lands for the ranging of their herds, on the other. Every thinking man knew that, if the lands of the unassigned district were opened to settlement, it would only be a question of time until the lands of the Cherokee Outlet would likewise have to be opened to settlement. Manifestly, this could not be done without having at least the nominal consent of the Cherokee people.
In the beginning, the Cherokees collected (or attempted to collect) a head tax on all cattle grazed on the outlet lands. The net amount received was ridiculously small, though the cattlemen seemed to think the amounts assessed against them were excessive. As neither of the parties to the arrangement were satisfied, it led to the organization of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, which in its corporate capacity, leased the entire tract and then sublet it to the individual ranchmen for cattle companies to whom certain definite ranges were assigned. This obviated the necessity of sending out collectors, as the directors of the leasing association were bound by the the terms of their contract to pay in one-half of the annual rental every six months.
The Cherokees never derived any benefits, tribal or individual, from their ownership of the "perpetual Outlet, West," during the first forty years that its title was vested in the Cherokee Nation, and though it had taken most of the proceeds of the head tax on cattle to collect it under the old arrangement, yet the leasing of the entire tract for $100,000 per year was severely criticized on the ground that it was worth much more and the question soon reached a very acute stage in the politics of the Cherokee Nation. Meanwhile, there were other white men who also thought the lands of the outlet were worth more than $100,000 per year.
In the latter part of 1886, the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, which had already had its business conditions disturbed by the activity of the "boomers" and by the expulsion of the herds from the ranges of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Reservation, was still further disquieted by the discovery that a syndicate had been formed for the purchase of all of the Cherokee lands west of the 96th meridian. That the proposed purchase of the Cherokee Outlet was more than an idle rumor, seems to be conclusively proven by the following extracts from correspondence of the period:
"I expect to visit council with a gentlemen, who, if he comes, comes to make the Cherokee Nation a bona fide offer of twelve or eighteen million dollars for the entire land west of 96 meridian. He is now making a more thorough inspection than my own report. This offer was intended for last council but it was entrusted to trifling parties & fell through. The bind money has all been subscribed, as the enclosed letter will explain and if nothing new comes up and my report of the resources of the "Outlet" is verified, this gentleman and probably one other will reach this place between now and Council time and I will bring them or send them to Tahlequah. They will make an offer of cash and ask probably an option long enough to have Congress of the U. S. ratify or sustain the Cherokee deed and in case Congress fails, to secure it from the Supreme Court, for every detail of the Cherokee title has been examined and it has been found from the best legal opinion the title to the "Outlet" is perfect within the Cherokees and in case the sale falls through you will see the great advantage of this offer to establish a future value on these lands, and if ever an intelligent Delegation is secured, to get a higher raised valuation on the lands already sold. But at the least, I want your cooperation, and let it be, like my own, to be unknown. The sale, even at $12,000,000.00, at 5% interest, will give many times more value than the lease.
I have been working on this scheme carefully since 1882, as also has my partner, Mr. Wallace. I fear opposition from Hoolie in this asked for option, for the reason that I wish to drop him for the failure last year and for you to quietly break his influence, if he has any. We may decide to ask the Nation for 7-1/2% of the cash money paid outside of our own sale to other parties. If we decide on this, I can imburse you and two or three other influential Cherokees handsomely for aid, etc., outside of the great advantages derived from this offer, from the large amount of wealth paid into the treasury of this country.
And as I said to you, I had a very interesting subject to talk to you of; now you know it and not even my wife knows scarcely even a word, for all of my correspondence on this subject has been carefully withheld from every one, and 'tis possible this offer by this Syndicate may fall through, but I trust, as the enclosed letter will explain to be there and have the option asked of this Council. -- Very Truly Your friend, (signed) Fred W. Strout.
To Johnson Thompson, Tahlequah, C. N. -- P.S. I wish you would drop me a line if you look favorable upon both these schemes and if you will help me. -- (enclosure) Leadville, Colo., 214 W. 7th St., Oct. 4, 1886.
The following is a copy of the offer of the New York syndicate, as drawn up and signed by J. W. Wallace and John Bissell:
This proposition was submitted to Principal Chief Bushyhead but was not laid before the Cherokee Legislative Council, presumably for the reason that public sentiment among the Cherokees was overwhelmingly against the sale of the outlet lands. At the same time, the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association, which had several representatives present at Tahlequah during the session of the council, was striving to secure a renewal of its five year lease, which still had nearly two years to run.
The title to the lands of the outlet, as claimed by the Cherokees, was apparently complicated by the action of the Cherokees in accepting an appropriation of $300,000 which had been made by an act of congress approved March 3, 1883, as being "due under appraisement of such lands." The lands of the Cherokee Outlet had been appraised under the direction of the president of the United States at $47.49 per acre as a basis of settlement for the lands purchased for the Osage, Kaw, Pawnee, Ponca, Otoe and Missouri and Nez Perce tribes, for which appropriations had been made and paid to the Cherokee Nation in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of 1866.
The influences which were back of this appropriation of $300,000, together with the fact that 7-1/2% of that sum was said to have been paid to the attorney of the Cherokee Nation at Washington (Col. William A. Phillips) caused much bitterness in the protracted campaign which preceded the election of new national officers by the Cherokees, in August, 1887.
Then Col. E. C. Boudinot, who openly questioned the legal right of the Cherokee Nation to lease the lands of the outlet to the cattlemen without having first the authority of an act of Congress, and who also favored the establishment of a territorial government, took the matter of the 7-1/2% on the $300,000 congressional appropriation into the Federal Court, where Col. William A. Phillips and several prominent Cherokees were indicted for conspiracy. The conservative Downing party was triumphant in the election over the radical National party, electing Joel B. Mayes as principal chief over Rabbit Bunch by a substantial majority.
After the election and inauguration of the new tribal officers, the question of a new lease came up for consideration in the Cherokee council and was the subject of much jockeying and wire pulling. The inauguration did not take place in as orderly a manner as it should, the count of votes having been delayed for some reason unexplained, so the newly elected principal chief forcibly took possession of the executive office and was sworn in. He issued a proclamation three days later (November 10) convening the council in special session.
Much time was spent on contested elections, organization and patronage. After being in session a number of weeks, the council finally passed a bill to authorize a new lease with the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association for the sum of $125,000 per year as rental on the lands of the outlet. This bill was vetoed by the principal chief. A strong effort was made to pass the bill over the executive veto but it was defeated, though several members of the principal chief's own party (Downing) voted with the opposition. The council adjourned (February 9, 1888) without taking further action in regard to the matter.
Chief Mayes then suggested that the proper way to lease the lands of the outlet would be to offer the lease to the highest bidder. This started still further discussion among the people and thus popular interest in the matter was kept up until Chief Mayes issued another proclamation, convening the council in special session on 25 June 1888. A bill was passed within a few days, authorizing and directing the principal chief to execute a new lease with the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association for the sum of $150,000. Claiming that he had two higher bids (one of $160,000 and another of $175,000 per year), Chief Mayes vetoed this bill also. the council then amended its bill, raising the amount to $175,000 per year, but Chief Mayes' other bidders having raised their bids to $185,000 per year, he vetoed that also.
Charges of favoritism on the part of the principal chief and of corruption and venality on the part of leading members of the opposition in the council were freely made. The situation finally became so unpleasant, unpromising that Chief Mayes availed himself of his constitutional prerogative and adjourned the council after it had been in session nearly four weeks.
The 5 year lease of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association was to expire on 1 October 1888, while the legislative council of the Cherokee Nation was not to convene until five weeks later. In September, Chief Mayes issued a proclamation, addressed to all concerned and more especially to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association and its sublessees, giving due notice of the expiration of the 5 year lease and serving notice also that the agents of the Cherokee Nation would on or immediately after the first day of October call upon the lessee and its sublessees to surrender the property, together with improvements thereon, in accordance with the terms of the lease made and entered into in 1883.
But the officials of the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association were not asleep. Assuming that something must be done to "bridge the hiatus" between the expiration of the lease (October 1) and the date of the next council meeting (November 5), E. M Hewins, director and president of the association, went to Tahlequah and entered into a temporary contract with Robert B. Ross, treasurer of the Cherokee Nation, whereby the association was to retain possession of the lands of the outlet until January 1, 1889, at a rental rate of $175,000 per year, the sum of $43,750 being paid to cover the rental for the three months designated as the term of the contract.
Chief Mayes repudiated the Ross contract (which was evidently executed without authority) and issued a supplemental proclamation (October 9, 1888) demanding immediate redelivery of the property held under lease. After the council convened in November, the long contest was finally ended by the passage and approval of a bill providing for the renewing the lease of the lands of the outlet to the Cherokee Strip Live Stock Association for 5 years at an annual rental of $200,000.
The New York syndicate had a representative on the ground at Tahlequah to renew its offer, made two years before, namely, to purchase the entire tract at a price of $3 per acre, but the offer did not receive serious consideration, even though it was expected that the Cherokee Nation might later be forced to sell the lands to the United States for a much smaller price.
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